This story takes place well after the Harry Potter and his generation of students have left Hogwarts. ElfFlame and I had created several sets of children from the various stories we've written, and since they were all around the same age, decided to throw them into school together. So this is a story, hopefully soon to be a series of stories based on several others. To help make more sense of these stories, it may help to read my story, De Die In Diem: From Day to Day, and ElfFlame's stories, Dragon's Tears, and Lost Love. Most of the kids come from those. We've also created many original kids not from our stories to help fill the ranks. Many of their last names may sound familiar to you. ElfFlame has files of the names and basic family trees of some of the children for all who are interested in finding out more background on these kids. Email her at if you want them. We hope you enjoy these, we've been having lots of fun thinking about them!
Arsinoe de Blassenville: I'm glad you approved of the wedding! Most of the Weasleys were on their best behavior, with the exception of Pierre, but hopefully that was a one time thing. Teecie certainly doesn't need to get involved with a boy like that. I had a lot of fun writing the bachelor party, I figured with that group of people in close quarters, how could it not be hilarious? Well, now it's back to school for Teecie and her classmates, I can't believe she's getting so old! This will probably be the last chapter I manage to post before I move. I'm so stressed out that writing is taking a lot more time than normal to do, though I find writing those ficlets help with the stress. I am still writing, but more slowly, so please be patient and know that I have not abandoned Teecie or her family! Enjoy!
Year Four Begins
The last two weeks of Teecie's summer holiday flew past quickly. She made sure to spend as much time with Hunter as possible. He went with her and Adriana to Diagon Alley when they went shopping for school books and new robes. Teecie had outgrown hers and needed new ones.
Hunter seemed to enjoy his trip to Diagon Alley. He enjoyed looking at all the owls in the Emporium. His favourite place though, was the Magical Menagerie. Teecie and Adriana pointed out all the interesting animals out to him. He laughed at all the fascinating creatures and clapped his hands excitedly while Teecie held him up to the cage. "Fwog!" he cried, pointing to a gigantic mauve coloured toad that puffed its cheeks out lazily inside its cage. "Bunny!" he exclaimed while looking at a blue rabbit hopping around in its cage. He watched with rapt attention as it slowly transfigured itself into a top hat and then back into a rabbit. When the shop owner held up a small puffskein for Hunter to pet, his eyes grew large, and he smiled so hard Adriana thought he'd give himself a headache. "Like it yiayia! Like it!" he cried while bouncing up and down.
Adriana tried to keep a hold of Hunter before he bounced out of her arms. "You like the puffskein? Maybe it would be good for you to have a pet for when you move to your new house," she said. Hunter was so excited he kissed his grandmother's cheek and wrapped his arms around the puffskein. Adriana looked at the shop keeper, "We'll take it," she said.
As the group left the store, Teecie held Hunter's hand while Adriana carried the puffskein in its cage. "Hunter, you have to name your new pet," Teecie said to Hunter as they walked to the ice cream shop.
Hunter looked thoughtful for a minute. "Fwossy," he finally declared.
"Fwossy? You mean 'Flossy'?" Teecie asked.
"Yes, Fwossy!"
"All right," Teecie replied, "Flossy it is. Why Flossy?"
"Fwossy candy!"
"Oh, I get it, candy floss! I suppose it does look like candy floss," Teecie replied. Hunter was so smart! Only one year old and he'd thought of that all by himself! She was so proud of her nephew.
Adriana bought everybody ice cream for a special treat that day. While they ate, a tall blonde woman with several house elves trailing behind her entered the store. "Narcissa!" Adriana called out, waving to the blonde woman. "I haven't seen you in forever. How are you doing?" she asked.
The blonde woman turned to look at Adriana. "Adriana? It has been a long time. I heard about your eldest daughter marrying one of the Weasleys," she replied with a look on her face that clearly showed she didn't think much of that family.
Teecie stared at the woman. Narcissa Malfoy, this was the woman her father was married to. This was Draco's mother. She looked like him; tall, aloof, and with an air of superiority about her. She glanced down at Teecie and Hunter. "Are these yours?" she asked coldly.
"This is Ticia, my youngest daughter, and Hunter, my grandson," Adriana replied, looking insulted. Teecie felt insulted as well. These? How dare she refer to her as an object?
"The boy I could have guessed as one of your relatives, but the girl? I would have assumed she was a Weasley," Narcissa replied, sniffing and looking at Teecie with a look on her face that clearly showed her disdain for her. What an unpleasant person! No wonder Lucius had left her so long ago. Adriana was much nicer to be around.
As Teecie stared at Narcissa though, she thought she caught a glimpse of something other than the hatred she'd been showing thus far: pure, unadulterated jealousy. Was she speaking so rudely because she'd wished for other things in her life? Why hadn't she gotten a divorce from Lucius and moved on? She could have remarried and been a lot happier than being alone for so long. As soon as Teecie thought that, a picture of Uncle Sev flashed in her mind. He'd been alone for a very long time too, and was also unhappy. He often acted rude when maybe he was just jealous of happy people.
While helping Hunter eat his ice cream sundae, Teecie thought about what would happen if Narcissa and Uncle Sev ever ended up together. They'd either be happy or miserable together. If Narcissa ever got a divorce, then Teecie's parents could get married. She had always believed deep down that Adriana wished she could be married to Lucius, to be his wife, legally, and he her husband, legally.
Hunter had finished his ice cream and was growing very tired and cranky. He wriggled in his seat and began to bang his spoon against the empty bowl. "Yiayia!" he cried while kicking the table leg. "Want Fwossy! Want mummy! Want dada!" he yelled.
Adriana could tell there was a tantrum coming very soon and chose to take him back home before he made too much of a public spectacle. As she stood up and gathered Hunter in her arms, she ended her conversation with Narcissa. "Well, I'd better get this little one back home for his lie down. It was good to see you again Narcissa," she said while floating the packages they'd purchased that day behind her, "Come on Teecie, let's go home." Teecie trotted after her mother, but cast a glance over her shoulder at Narcissa. She was looking after them with an almost wistful expression on her face, but when she saw Teecie looking at her, quickly changed it to an angry scowl before turning to the counter to place her order. Teecie chewed her lip thoughtfully all the way home thinking about Narcissa and her Uncle Sev.
Teecie was too busy during the rest of her holiday to give Narcissa a second thought. She spent her time reading, relaxing, watching telly, and getting ready for school. Finally, September first arrived, and Teecie for once, was very excited to be going off to Hogwarts. She and Kali said goodbye to their parents and Hunter, and boarded the train.
Kali walked away to find Paul, leaving Teecie to fend for herself with Patty and Paige. She found them in one of the compartments, sitting across from James and Candace. Her only choices were to sit by Paige or James. James seemed to be the lesser of the two evils at this point in time, so she sat next him. Her heart pounded from being so close to him. She sat in silence while James and Candace snuggled together next to her. They held hands and nuzzled their noses while whispering to each other. Teecie fidgeted in her seat, wringing her hands and trying to find something else to focus on. Rose was sitting nicely on her lap. Teecie had trained her to wear a harness and walk on a leash, so there was no need to keep her in a cage during the ride to school.
An hour passed with the friends minding their own business before Teecie couldn't stand it anymore. She stood up and left the compartment to take a walk to calm down a bit. Rose trotted faithfully at her side the whole time. After wandering around for a while, she found Zeren and several of his followers sitting in a compartment with Rey and Carl, and joined them for a couple hours, telling them about her summer holiday, and listening to what they'd done during theirs. Carl had spent a lot of time with his mother and sister redoing their flat. He'd helped design each of the rooms, and had really enjoyed purchasing paint, furniture, and fabrics. Teecie gushed over the snapshots he'd taken of the before and after of the flat. His mother's room was now a deep red colour with velvet curtains and bed sheets. He'd put hanging candleholders and lamps to give the room a soft glow. It looked very sexy and provocative. "It's high time my mother started seeing other men. She's been single for too long," Carl said, explaining why he'd chosen to give his mother such a room.
Rey had spent his holiday traveling throughout Europe with his family. He'd enjoyed the time he'd spent in France, Germany, Poland, and Italy. The Magical populations of each country were small like the one in Britain, and enjoyed hosting people from other countries. A lot of the Wizarding folks' income came from the travel industry in their country. Providing food, shelter, and entertainment for magical people had the potential for making a lot of money.
Zeren had spent his summer studying for his classes. He'd read several potions books, gotten ahead in his Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, and studied Arithmancy. When he'd had time, he'd practiced fencing with his father, who was quite good. He'd picked up quite a few pointers, and felt he stood a very good chance of winning this year's competition.
After they'd all gotten caught up with one another, they settled in for an exciting game of Exploding Snap. Teecie paired up with Carl to play a few Gryffindor versus Slytherin matches. They won two rounds and lost three, which led Zeren, his cronies, and Rey to gloat for over an hour.
When they'd settled down, Teecie took the latest issue of the Quibbler she'd been saving for the train ride, out of her pocket, unrolled it, and began to read while leaning against the window. "How can you stand to read that rubbish?" a voice called out to her while she was engrossed in an article about a woman in Londonderry who'd claimed she'd been abducted by aliens, but had managed to disapparate from the ship before they'd gotten too far out of the earth's atmosphere.
Teecie tore herself away from the fascinating reading to look at Zeren who was looking at her with scrutiny. "It's dreadfully interesting stuff! And of course it's all true. They wouldn't print it if it wasn't the truth," she replied naively.
Zeren snorted derisively, "Oh yes, the 'truth'," he replied sarcastically. "That stuff is all a load of trash, and I should think you'd be smart enough now to realize that! But I guess not, you are only a Gryffindor after all, and you've spent most of your life among Muggles. They tend to be extra stupid and believe anything you tell them. No wonder you believe that stuff!" he said while shaking his head disbelievingly.
"I cannot believe you said that! That is so rude!" Teecie cried huffily, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "I don't put you down for being a stuffy, uptight, wealthy snob of a Slytherin now do I? Well, do I?" she asked, her voice growing higher pitched with each word. "I don't know why I try to be nice to you, Zeren Travers, all you ever do to me is make fun of me and put down what I like. You know what? You're a real…" Teecie paused to think of the right word to thoroughly insult him, "wanker! So I'll thank you to keep your horribly rude and unwanted comments to yourself!" With that, she rolled up her issue of the Quibbler, smacked him on the arm with it, and stormed out of the room, Rose quickly following suit.
Teecie didn't see Zeren grin and roll his eyes as she walked away from him. "Women!" he snorted to the other people in the compartment.
Teecie stood in the hallway of the train by herself for a while before an old woman pushing a trolley passed her. "Would you like to buy anything off the trolley, dear?" she asked.
"Sure," Teecie replied before purchasing a pumpkin pasty and three chocolate frogs. She sat out in the hallway by herself and unwrapped her lunch. There were no other students around, and Teecie was able to eat uninterrupted. She let Rose eat a few bites of her pasty, and took her to the restroom to feed her water from the sink. When she'd finished, she returned to the hall, sat down, pulled out the Quibbler and continued reading.
Several more hours passed before the train finally arrived at the station in Hogsmeade. Teecie stood up, and walked with Rose off the train towards the coaches that would drive the second through seventh year students to the school. She found a coach with only a few students in it and joined them, for there were plenty of people she didn't want to deal with right now.
Once inside the school, Teecie walked with the crowd of students into the Great Hall, and took a seat in the corner of the Gryffindor table. She sat towards the front, away from her friends, in order to see the first years being sorted. A few of the students looked familiar to Teecie. Sidney Graham, one of the orphans that Teecie and Lucius worked with, was sorted into Gryffindor. She smiled, greeted him, and shook his hand as he sat down across from her. They sat and watched as other students were sorted into the different houses. Irene Carver, another orphan had already been sorted into Slytherin, as had Ashford Creevey's younger brother, Frederick. Diana Weasley, Hermione and Ron's daughter, was sorted into Ravenclaw.
When the sorting was finished, Professor Snape stood up and made a speech to welcome the students to another year of school at Hogwarts, and to wish the first years well. Finally the dishes of food appeared on the tables. Teecie and the new students talked together while they ate. She told them all about each of the teachers and the sorts of things they could expect to do in class. She enjoyed being so knowledgeable and able to help out the younger students.
After everybody had eaten their fill of dinner and pudding, the prefects led the students out of the Great Hall and to their common rooms. Teecie spent time in the common room that night before going up to her dormitory. James was there, without Candace thankfully. She tried to talk to him for a while without losing her cool but found him so attractive she had trouble talking. He'd had a growth spurt over the holiday, and now stood several inches taller that her. His voice had broken and he sounded like a young man now, instead of a little boy. She could tell from the few nicks he had on his chin, that James has started shaving over the summer. He must have spent a lot of his holiday working out, for he was starting to look quite muscular in his arms, and Teecie assumed the rest of his body looked the same.
"So, Reni's wedding must have been loads of fun," James said, smiling over at Teecie as she looked at him from other end of the sofa.
"Yes, it was a lot of fun," Teecie replied, "I wish you could have come." She couldn't help but think his brown eyes looked like pools of chocolate. She could have gazed into them forever.
"That would have been fun," James replied quietly, looking carefully at Teecie. "I'm sure Candace would have liked it too," he said, looking away from Teecie.
"Oh, yes, I'm sure she'd have had fun too," Teecie replied sadly while standing up to go to her dormitory.
Once in her dormitory, she was faced with Patty and Paige once again. Teecie did her best to ignore them and go about her evening routine. Before falling asleep that night, she read a chapter in her new favourite book, Healing Properties of Food and Herbs. It was really interesting and cheered her up as she fell asleep that night.
The school year began as usual. Students received their timetables the first morning during breakfast. Teecie glanced over hers and noticed she had double potions with Draco first thing. She hadn't talked to him since Reni's wedding and needed to ask him if he was going to take her ingredients again like he had at the end of the year. She'd brought her potions books as usual, but had no intentions of misusing them again, but somehow she thought Draco might not believe that.
Teecie sat at a table by herself during Potions class the first morning. After Draco assigned the potion for the class to work on, she set to work on preparing the ingredients. As Draco walked around the room helping the students, he passed by Teecie. "Why are you working alone?" he asked quietly.
Teecie bit her lip for a moment before speaking. "I don't feel like working with anybody," she replied. She went back to cutting up her ginger root into tiny cubes and added them to the powdered scarab beetle in her cauldron. Draco frowned but didn't respond, and continued to walk around the classroom.
By the time the class period was over, Teecie had a perfect wit-sharpening potion to turn in to her brother. She walked in silence to her Herbology class, but was stopped along the way by Zeren who was going to his Transfiguration class. "Ticia, wait!" he called out as he walked up to her. Teecie frowned as she waited for him to catch up. When he finally did, she was surprised to see him pull a pale yellow carnation out of his robes and hand it to her. "You aren't really angry at me are you? I only tease you because it's fun to see the reaction," Zeren said coyly with a smile on his face.
"You really hurt me yesterday, Zeren," Teecie replied while looking at her flower.
Zeren suavely took one of Teecie's hands and gently kissed it. "Don't be angry forever," he whispered before winking and letting her hand go.
Teecie sighed and smiled. "All right, I forgive you. Just stop making fun of what I like, OK?" she replied.
Zeren grinned and called out to her while walking away to his class, "I'll just think of something else to tease you for!"
As Teecie walked past James, she couldn't help but notice him scowl. He'd been walking behind her and must have seen the exchange between them. Her heart fluttered at the thought that he was jealous over her. Did that mean he was still interested in her? The thought was overwhelming. She walked off to her Herbology class trying not to think about it.
That afternoon at lunch, Professor Weasley made an announcement to the students. "Professor Snape has appointed me to assist with plans for the annual Lake Party. Each house is to appoint two representatives, a boy and a girl, to help plan the party. You'll meet in your common rooms this evening to choose your representatives, and then tomorrow after classes, they'll meet with me in my office to begin planning for the party," she said to the school.
The student body chattered loudly for the rest of the meal over the party and who to appoint to represent them in the planning sessions. Teecie wondered who'd be chosen for her house, but didn't have too much time to think about it. She'd been thinking a lot lately about her OWLS next year, and thought it couldn't hurt to start working towards them now. She really wanted to do well in all her classes this year, even on the first day.
That evening though, Teecie's thoughts turned back to fun and parties as the house met in the Common room to vote on representatives. Professor Lupin had chosen to not take part in the meeting. He felt this was a good chance for the students to communicate and interact with their peers without an adult monitoring them.
Stephen, who was Head Boy for the year, took charge of the discussion. "We need a boy and a girl, and they should be from different years I think," he said from his chair in front of the fireplace.
"Well I think Teecie should be the girl we choose, because the Lake Party was her idea in the first place," James called out in the middle of a lull in the talking. Teecie whipped her head around to look at him and flushed to hear him talking about her.
After much debate, the students voted to let Teecie and Stephen represent them at the planning meetings over the rest of the week.
The next afternoon, Teecie and Stephen walked to Hermione's office while talking over what they wanted to happen at the party this year. "I think we should hire a band! Reni used to play in a band, you know, though she's still on her honeymoon," Teecie said while they walked into the room.
Hermione seemed to have a lot of ideas for the party already and seemed eager to share with the students. Teecie couldn't help but notice that none of the activities involved swimming or sunbathing. Though the three-legged race did sound like fun, it would be better to have a more balanced party. However, since it was the Lake party, it should involve the lake. She couldn't help but wonder if Uncle Sev was having Hermione plan the party in order to keep the students as fully clothed as possible. Teecie enjoyed showing off her bikini and liked to see the boys in their swimming trunks and nothing else. That's what made the Lake party so much fun each year.
It seemed as though the other students had picked up on this theme of good clean dry fun. They tried their best to find a balance for the activities. "What if we have the three-legged race in the water?" Curtis Goyle, the third year Hufflepuff representative, suggested.
"Or we could have swimming races," Roxanne Zabini, the girl who had taken Lisette's place as the alpha female of Slytherin house, though minus the mental problems. She gave Curtis a look that clearly showed how stupid she thought he was.
In the end, the students struck a nice balance of games involving water and dry land. They were happy and so was Professor Weasley. Each of the students was assigned to plan part of the party details. Teecie volunteered to plan the menu, her favourite part of any gathering. She planned on stopping by the kitchens the next day after classes to speak with Nili about the menu.
When the meeting ended, Teecie took the time to return the medical books Master Wilkes had loaned her over the summer holiday. "Oh, Master Wilkes, they were thrilling books! I never knew there was so much to learn about the human body. It'll take years for me to learn it all I bet," she said with excitement as she chattered away to the healer. Wilkes smiled at her enthusiasm and listened to all she had to say while feeling happy that he'd helped foster a love of something magical in Teecie. "Do you think they make pink stethoscopes?" she asked at one point in time.
"Teecie, magical healers don't need stethoscopes," Wilkes informed her.
"Oh, I was hoping for one. All the doctors on the telly wear them," she replied, looking crushed as one of her dreams was dashed.
"Sorry," Wilkes apologized ruefully. Teecie left a while later to work on her homework before dinner.
The rest of the week passed quickly with classes and planning the menu for the Lake Party. Teecie and Nili had made plans for an international feast for the party. She'd learned from the party Draco had thrown for her that finger foods worked best. There would be an array of grilled skewered meats, and sauces from different countries for them. Tzatziki sauce from Greece and peanut sauce from Thailand would be available for putting on the meats. There would also be egg rolls, barbecued ribs, beef and pork, crostini, prosciutto wrapped melon, crudités, grilled vegetables, and finger sandwiches. For pudding there would be baklava, fruitcake, biscotti, petit fours, handmade chocolates, and five different kinds of pie. There would also be soda, butterbeer, lemonade, and other fruit juices to drink.
Teecie was excited about the menu. She thought it sounded delicious and sophisticated, and hoped the other students enjoyed it.
The other students on the planning committee had worked just as hard on music, decorations, and activities. There were to be several contests with prizes.
Professor Weasley had gotten Charlie involved in the party plans as well. He'd be going to Hogsmeade and purchasing the items needed with the money that the students had pooled together. He was also in charge of picking out the prizes for the contests, and Hermione had given him a list of possible choices. Feather pens, book covers, specialty parchment, and organizers were among the list. Charlie decided those were far too boring for prizes and made a list of his own to buy while in Hogsmeade.
Saturday morning dawned grey and drizzly. Everybody was upset over the prospects of having a rained out party, yet held out hope that it would clear up. After a few hours though, the drizzle turned to actual rain and didn't seem as though it was about to let up at all.
At breakfast, the students were dreading Professor Weasley making an announcement that the party was cancelled. They were surprised and excited to hear her announce that the party would go on, with a few changes. There would start the day off with the swimming contest outside. It was raining and they'd get wet anyway, so why not go swimming? After they'd finished, they'd return to the school, dry off, change clothes, and go to the Great Hall for food, entertainment, and field games.
The students cheered loudly when they heard the good news. After rushing through breakfast, they all ran to their dormitories to change into their swimming gear. Teecie had a new mint green bikini to wear this year. In order to appease Draco, she put on a wrap and tied it around her waist before slipping into her sandals and leaving for the lake.
When she arrived, Draco was already there, waiting for her underneath an umbrella. He made her come over to him for inspection. "Why must you wear those skimpy little bikinis? You're practically naked. All the boys will be staring at you and trying to climb all over you-though you'd probably enjoy that," he muttered while looking at her outfit to make sure it covered enough of her. When he was assured that the bikini was clothing her as well as possible, he let her go with a warning, "I don't want you to do anything inappropriate today. If I even hear about you doing something improper with one of the boys, I'll ground you so fast it'll make your head spin."
"Yes Draco," Teecie replied with a scowl before leaving to join the rest of the students at the edge of the lake.
Charlie was in charge of the contest. There were several rounds as the boys and girls took turns swimming to a buoy that had been secured at a certain part of the lake and back to shore again. The winners from each round went on to the next round. Teecie won the first round she swam in, but lost in the second. She stood at the shore in her wet bikini, shivering in the cold rain and cheering the rest of the students on.
As Teecie was watching James swim, Peter Lupin approached her. "Hi Teecie!" he exclaimed as he came to stand right next to her. He was so close their arms were touching.
"Hello Peter," Teecie replied, "having fun?"
"Yes, but it's so cold!" he replied, smiling at her. As he looked at Teecie, he was reminded of why he found her so attractive. She was tall and he was right at eye level with her bikini top, and it was definitely chilly outside. Peter took a deep breath and reminded himself that she was older than him and way out of his league.
Teecie was shivering a lot and had wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm during the races. Peter was keeping her warm on one side, but it wasn't enough. Out of the blue, a towel was draped over her shoulders. "Can't have you catching cold now, can we?" Draco said as he took Teecie by the arms and gently led her several feet from where Peter had been standing. "What did I tell you about attracting all the boys? He was practically on top of you!" he hissed in her ear.
"Oh Draco, you're exaggerating! He wasn't doing anything wrong at all," Teecie hissed back to her brother. At that point in time, the current round of the swimming contest ended and James had come in first. "Oh, James won, I have to go congratulate him," she said while taking the towel off and handing it back to Draco.
Teecie hadn't even realized she'd said that out loud, and was making a beeline towards James when Draco grabbed her by the arm from behind to stop her. "No! You will not be parading yourself around that boy in this skimpy little outfit. I will not allow it! You are returning to the school with me and changing back into regular clothes," he informed her while tugging gently on her arm.
"But Draco I want to see him!" Teecie cried while trying to pull out of his grip.
"You can see him when everybody meets in the Great Hall for lunch," he informed her while tugging harder on her arm.
Teecie saw there was no winning this battle and allowed her brother to walk her back to the school. "You don't want me to have any fun do you? You probably want me to stay in my room all day long and never see anybody or do anything remotely interesting ever! I should quit school and join a convent, that's what would probably make you happiest, wouldn't it?" she cried while they walked away from the other students.
Draco looked at her blandly. "Yes, yes it would make me happiest to see you living a life of seclusion and self-control. I think a convent would be a perfect place for you. Would you like me to make some inquiries about sending you to one?" he asked calmly.
"You're so mean! Why are you being so mean to me? All I wanted to do was go see James and you jumped all over me!" Teecie cried while they walked into the school.
"This conversation is over. Go up to your room and change your clothes. You can come back for the rest of the party or you can stay in your room. It's your choice," Draco said as he walked away from Teecie while she stood on the steps leading up to Gryffindor tower.
"You'd like it if I stayed in my room forever wouldn't you? Just for that I'm going to the party! And I'll talk to James. I don't know why you hate him so much, he's a very nice boy," Teecie exclaimed before leaving in a huff to return to her dorm room.
Draco rolled his eyes and sighed as he walked to the Great Hall to wait for the students' arrival.
Teecie dried off from her swim and changed into warmer clothes for the rest of the party. When the rest of the students had returned and changed, she walked to the Great Hall with them.
Tables heavily laden with delicious foods beckoned to the now starving children. They quickly made their way to the tables and dished themselves up. Teecie plated herself up a few egg rolls and some chicken skewers with spicy peanut sauce, and poured herself a glass of lemonade before finding a spot to sit across from James at the Gryffindor table. "I hear you did really well in the swimming races," she said to him with a grin.
"Yep, I almost won, but Frederick Creevey beat me. He sure is fast!" James replied while taking a huge bite of his baklava.
"Oh well, but you had fun, and that's the really important thing, right?"
"Yep"
Candace had been sitting next to James and wrapped her arm through his while glaring at Teecie. "So, Teecie, we've never really gotten to know each other very well. Tell me about yourself. I've heard you're always getting into trouble for something or other," she said while looking down her nose at her.
"But you have heard of me," Teecie replied slyly, trying to hide her anger. "I mean, if you weren't going out with James, I'd have never even known who you were. At least I'm making a name for myself at the school," she said loftily.
"Too bad it's only for being a trouble student and for being related to the headmaster and Potions master," Candace replied.
"Why Candace, dear, are you jealous of me?" Teecie asked, smirking.
"No, what have I got to be jealous about?" Candace asked while leaning in to kiss James.
Teecie narrowed her eyes dangerously. In order to not do something rash, she focused on the food on her plate. She gingerly picked up one of the egg rolls and bit into it. It was quite delicious, but stuck in her throat as she tried to swallow it. After she'd finally managed to finish her meal, she stood up from the table and walked away without another word. The games would be starting soon and hopefully there wouldn't be too many chances for Candace and James to snog anymore.
After a few minutes, Hermione and Charlie announced that the games would be starting soon. As the kids gathered at the front of the Great hall, the professors swept the tables and benches to the sides of the room to allow for more room on the floor.
The first contest was the three-legged race. The two students for each team would have two of their legs magically bound together while they tried to run across the hall without falling. The first team to cross the finish line won the prize.
Candace and James, Patty and Daniel, Carl and Rey, and Teecie and Peter were among the pairs of students who entered the contest. Peter kept grinning stupidly at Teecie while they put their arms around each other's shoulders.
After Charlie whistled to announce the start of the race, the students tried to run as fast as they could. Candace and James got about two thirds of the way there before falling. Carl and Rey only made it half way. Teecie and Peter had only made it a few steps before they'd fallen. She didn't realize it, but Peter had stumbled on purpose. They fell to the ground, with him on top of her, and were stuck there until one of the professors lifted the spell on their legs. Peter enjoyed the precious few seconds he'd had being so close to her. She looked up at him and laughed while they waited to be freed from one another.
Patty and Daniel ended up winning the contest. Daniel was so happy that he actually kissed Patty on the cheek in front of the entire school. All the girls cooed while the boys hooted and whistled. Patty turned beet red and punched Daniel's arm while he smiled at her. Hermione scolded her for hitting him while Charlie handed out prizes. He gave Daniel a packet of dung bombs, and Patty a box of tonne tongue toffees, much to Hermione's chagrin.
Teecie participated in the next contest as well. It was an egg levitating contest where the students used the Floating Charm to lift an egg into the air for as long as they could. While she knew she could have easily won the contest, seeing as she'd lifted James into the air successfully the year before, she willingly lost when the opportunity to drop the egg on Candace's head arose. She giggled, but quickly composed herself when Candace whipped around to look at her. "You, you did that on purpose!" she cried while marching up to Teecie.
"Honestly, Candace, it was an accident," Teecie replied while trying to keep a straight face.
Candace scowled before using her wand to clean up the egg that dripped from her hair. "You just did that because you're in love with James still and he's not in love with you anymore. Everybody knows you're still in love with him. You're pathetic, an embarrassment, just so you know!" she hissed at Teecie.
Teecie was enraged at this point and didn't know what to say. She was about to lunge at Candace in order to tear her eyes out, when Professor Lupin intervened. He'd been watching the egg floating contest from across the room and had heard the exchange. He knew it was about to come to blows, and the time to break it up had arrived.
"Girls, what a fun day it's been so far! Let's try to keep it that way, shall we?" he asked while gently pushing the girls apart. He pushed Candace carefully over towards James while before walking Teecie over to where Draco was standing and watching the other students.
Draco wouldn't help but notice how angry Teecie was, but didn't want to know why. She'd probably cause a scene if he talked to her right now, so it was better to let her cool off first.
There were more contests, and the students enjoyed themselves while the prizes were handed out. Some of the girls chose bottles of perfume or boxes of chocolates, while most of the boys opted for the variety of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products available to them.
By the end of the day, the students were exhausted but very happy. It had been another successful Lake party. That evening Teecie talked to Patty about Daniel's kiss. "So, what was it like? Did you like it?" she asked excitedly.
Patty blushed and looked at the box of toffees on her bed. "It was nice…" she finally replied in a small voice, "But don't you dare tell him!"
"Of course not! Oh, it's so romantic!" Teecie squealed. "I love love," she sighed while throwing herself down on her bed, "It's so…lovely."
Paige had been listening to the other girls talk, but hadn't joined in. She was still upset over how Teecie had acted at the wedding rehearsal. She hadn't known just how snobby Teecie was capable of being. But while she was angry with Teecie, she still hated fighting. Perhaps there had been more behind the way she'd acted. It had seemed quite defensive looking back upon it.
Teecie glanced over at Paige while she cuddled in bed with Rose. She didn't like fighting with Paige, but she'd felt so threatened that her family was shrinking. Maybe it was time to apologize to her. She had been really rude to Paige.
Teecie fell asleep that night determined to make up with Paige for the fight they'd had. It would be good to have her best friend to talk to once again.
